So I used this solution (http://forums.opera.com/topic/514/default-google-localization) and it seemed to work.

Still outstanding questions though: Why does this issue arise? Why can't localization be changed from the Preferences.. window? And why can't I set an "Other Search Engine" as a default?

Hi there,

For some reason my default Opera search engine is google.co.kr, which is strange because I don't actually speak Korean or have Korean language settings as far (as I know). I want to change the default search engine to google.com but under Preferences > Manage Search Engines it doesn't give me the option to edit Google Search, and if I add an "Other Search Engine" I can't set it as Default.

Any help is appreciated.

Similar problem here. After my Mac goes to sleep both Shockwave and Google Talk pop up with "Shockwave / Google Talk has stopped responding." I then need to reload whatever pages were using these plugins.